Charles specifically sought records on bullet wounds sustained by soldiers equipped with armor who died in Iraq and Afghanistan between January 2006 and December 2007.

As of January 2009 the institute had failed to turn over the data or even say when they would, resulting in Charles suing the government. In doing so, he claimed that soldiers were “being sent into harm’s way with substandard ballistic protection from small arms fire,” and that more than 16,000 sets of body armor had been recalled by the Pentagon.

Charles also charged that the Pentagon intentionally withheld from his request 103 autopsy files and 18 body armor description sheets, which had been identified through cited FOIA exemptions.

U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts ruled (pdf) that the Pentagon failed to demonstrate that Charles’ request for records would “shock” troops’ families. He also ordered the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner to release 89 records to the plaintiff.